A Rubaiyat Conundrum in The Somerton Man Mystery'...Part 1.

 THE TAMAM SHUD TORN SLIP

The two images are something of a conundrum, they are both said to be the same piece of paper, but one is said to be from A Collins edition, and the other, the upper image, is said to be from a Whitcombe & Tombs version.

The lower image is actually from a set taken by Detective Constable and presented to the 1949 Inquest as part of his evidence which would also be handed out to the media for circulation. The edges of the slip were not shown as the Police wanted to make sure that they had an exact match. and by concealing the actual shape in the press handout version they would prevent any 'time wasters'.

Collins Vs W&T

My understanding is that the W&T version, which is not mentioned in Gerry Feltus' book The Unknown Man, actually surfaced as a theory based on early press photographs, one showing the outer cover of a slim pocket version that had a W&T design on it and the other showing a photograph of the inner page from which the slip bearing the words 'Tamam Shud' had been torn out.

Both of these versions have never been substantiated in fact, I believe that the image showing the torn-out space was compiled by the press. In fact, if you look at the image of the book with the torn-out section, there appears to be something quite odd about its appearance.

In discussions with Gerry Feltus some year ago he told me that Detective Brown was adamant that the torn slip in the possession of the Police at the time, was a precise fit for the torn-away shape within the book.

To this point and I have more images to work on, it appears to me that the words TAMAM SHUD in 

 the W&T version and the same words found in the Collins version look to be precisely the same. (Updated Nov 18 2024 on closer examination.See Post dated 18 Nov 2024)

The compositors in New Zealand, where the W&T books were printed would have slightly different type setting assembly methods to their colleagues in the UK. Even the foundry work would turn out similar but not exactly matching letters.

Different strokes for different folks. But to make sure that we are on the right track I will need to carry out some further research on the typesetting variations that occurred in those times

By carefully comparing the Collins version with the W&T version of the book, we would know for sure whether the book from which the torn slip came, was from the UK or from New Zealand, bear in mind that W&T had retail outlets in Australia and Collins had distributors here. 

Fortunately, I have acquired a Collins version from that era. This one bears no date nor the distributor name but it was sold by William Munro & Co in Rockhampton. It is a pocket version, with a red faux leather cover and it has no illustrations. What it does have is a feature described by Detective Brown in his evidence to the 1949 Inquest, the book whilst quite small, contains both Fitzgerald's First edition and also his second edition.

The First edition finishes off with the words Tamam Shud and the Second edition with the single word Tamam.

Detective Brown described the paper of the book he had found as being coated whilst it is apparent that the torn slip image with which mort are familiar, is uncoated. It was quite common, due to paper shortages at the time for different kinds of paper to be used for retail book printing.

And The Point Is?
The point is, if we can show that the torn slip was from a Collins version, we will have corrected the information used since 2009. It's a matter of getting it right and hopefully, everyone will go out of their way to substantiate any evidence they find. Near enough really is not good enough, every aspect of research should always be about truth and accuracy. It's a great but demanding habit to stick to.

I will get some pics of the Collins book and will publish the measurements, it was supposedly in this book that the code page was written.